US takes aim at China's arms budget

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The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has signalled a deepening American concern at the high level of Chinese military spending, which he said was now the biggest in Asia and the third largest worldwide.

He also confirmed Wash- ington's failing patience with the Chinese effort to orchestrate a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear weapons issue, indicating the US will ask the United Nations to impose sanctions if the Chinese ally does not return to talks this month.

At a conference of Asian defence ministers in Singapore, Mr Rumsfeld posed several questions about China's military upgrade.

"China appears to be expanding its missile forces, allowing them to reach targets in many areas of the world, not just the Pacific region, while also expanding its missile capabilities here in the region," Mr Rumsfeld said. "Since no nation threatens China, one must wonder: why this growing investment?"

Mr Rumsfeld drew attention to the build-up of China's ballistic missile force along the Taiwan Strait. "One might be concerned that this build-up is putting the delicate military balance in the region at risk, especially, but not only, with respect to Taiwan," his prepared text said.

The questions brought a retort from the most senior Chinese official at the conference, Cui Tiankai, director of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Asia bureau.

"Do you truly believe that China is under no threat whatsoever from any part of the world?" Mr Cui asked. "And do you truly believe that the United States feels threatened by the so-called emergence of China?"

Mr Rumsfeld replied that he knew of no nation that menaced China and that the United States did not feel threatened by China's rising power, but added: "If everyone is agreed that the situation between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan is going to be resolved in a peaceful way, then one has to ask why this significant increase in ballistic missiles opposite Taiwan?"

Mr Rumsfeld did not say what the Pentagon estimated Chinese military spending to be. A senior US defence official travelling with him said the Pentagon's annual report on Chinese military power, due to go to Congress later this month, attempted to quantify the spending for the first time.

China earlier this year announced a 12.6 per cent increase in military spending to 244.65 billion yuan ($39 billion) but it is thought to be only about 50 per cent of actual military-related expenditure.

Mr Rumsfeld told reporters that China's authoritarian political system was one of the factors inhibiting regional trust.

"With respect to China, it's not completely clear which way they're going because of the tension … between the nature of their political system and the nature of their economic system."

Mr Rumsfeld said China was the only nation that could push North Korea back to the bargaining table. "Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions threaten the security and stability of the region, and indeed the world," he said. "One has to assume that they'll sell anything, and that they would sell nuclear technologies."

■Taiwan has successfully test fired its first cruise missile, which has the capacity to hit military targets in south-east China, the China Times reported yesterday.

KHAKI SPENDING SPREE

.China has the world's largest army - 2.5 million people. The US Army has 1.6 million.

.Its military expenditure in 2004 was $90 billion - 4.3 per cent of the country's GDP. That was less than 15 per cent of the US military budget.

.China is said to have become the world's third-largest nuclear power with about 400 nuclear warheads.

.It is said to be investing money to improve the range and mobility of its missile systems for delivering nuclear warheads.